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Building a fulfilling and lasting career in Hollywood definitely isn’t easy, but when you’re starting from the bottom rung of the ladder with zero contacts and just breaking in it can seem downright IMPOSSIBLE. But no matter who you are, where you come from, or who you do or don’t know, anyone can get their foot in the door using the right strategy. As today’s guest says,
“It’s all about getting into people’s inboxes to make things happen.”
My guest, Aaron Schmidt, is currently the Post Production Assistant on Cobra Kai who managed to land his position on a hit studio television show just months after graduating from college (which by the way is extremely unusual). Glancing at his resume as an Arizona State University cum laude graduate with Dean’s List honors and several credits on high profile studio projects while still in college, you’d probably never guess that Aaron began his education being placed in special ed because he was dyslexic. But Aaron has learned there’s a lot more to being successful and forging a path in Hollywood than just “getting lucky.”
In today’s episode Aaron and I break down his experience on Cobra Kai, how he landed the gig in the first place, what his duties are as the post-production assistant (post PA), what he’s learned, and most importantly how he can improve so he lands his next gig (which by the way he already has..sorry, spoiler alert).
Aaron Schmidt is a Chicago native who attended Arizona State University where he studied Film and Media Production. He graduated cum laude with Dean’s List honors and a Bachelor of Arts degree. Aaron has worked within many film and TV realms, stretching from his work with HBO’s television show Camping to Sony Pictures’s Cobra Kai and now working in development for TBS’s new show Obliterated. Aaron also has worked with independent film producers at Indy Entertainment on the films The Au Pair and Model Citizen. There he helped online and deliver final cuts of the films.
When Aaron is not in the office helping make characters come to life, he is advocating for the Learn Disability community. Aaron has spoken at many Hyde Park Day School conferences, helping parents understand what it is like to be dyslexic. He has also been a sounding board for teachers trying to update their curriculums to better suit their dyslexic students. Aaron will continue to help students set themselves up for success.
Zack Arnold: I’m here today with Aaron Schmidt, who calls himself a recent Arizona State University alumni. He most recently was the post PA for Cobra Kai, and he’s now working in development for a new Sony Picture Show. Aaron also works with producers at a company called Indie Entertainment, helping doing online and delivering their feature films. Aaron, it is a pleasure. After months and months, and you have you and I going back and forth at Cobra Kai, talking about making this happen. Dude, we’re on the microphone right now. Thank you for being here.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, thanks for having me, Zack. It’s, it’s good to be here. I’m excited.
Zack Arnold: And how about nervous? You a little bit nervous as well?
Aaron Schmidt: Um, no, not so much nervous. I just, more excitement, because I want to do this for a while, ever since you told me you had a podcast, and I, I am excited and honored to be here.
Zack Arnold: Cool. Well, I’m excited about it. I know that I gave you a little bit of a gentle warning beforehand that there could be some tearing down of the experience at Cobra Kai and learning from it and growing from it, but I certainly wouldn’t have you on the show this evening if you were a really crappy PA. If there’s room for improvement, it’s only to take you from maybe an A minus to an A or from an A to an A plus. So I don’t want you to be too nervous, but I want you to be a little nervous.
Aaron Schmidt: All right. Well, I am now a little nervous, but I am open to any and all constructive criticism, as always. So I’m interested to see what you saw from your perspective as one of the lead editors on the show.
Zack Arnold: Well, the most important reason that I have you on the show is something that you already alluded to, that we’ve talked about in the past, where there just aren’t a whole lot of insider resources for people that are trying to break into the industry, whether it’s right out of college, whether it’s five years out of college, whether it’s a decade of having worked at Starbucks and doing whatever else, trying to break into the industry, it really is irrelevant as far as age, but breaking into this part of the industry isn’t easy, and as you said, there really weren’t any resources for you, and I want somebody that is in the position that you were a year ago, or two years ago, or five years ago to say, “Oh, well, here’s this guy’s story, and this is going to be really helpful to me. So that’s kind of the reason that we’re here today.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, I always kind, you know, in in film school I would ask my professors, you know, how do people break in, and no one really had a clear answer for me, and that that bugged me, because I am the type of guy that wants, you know, a defined path, and what I’ve learned is that there is no defined path to get into this industry at all, but everyone kind of has their own journey and their own story, and it’s interesting because listening to everyone else’s and kind of taking pieces from their stories and kind of saying, oh, I kind of like that way or I kind of like this way.
Zack Arnold: Yeah, so when it comes to there being a path or they’re not being a path, it is very clear that for people that want to break into entertainment, it is nothing like trying to be a doctor or a lawyer. For anybody that wants to become a doctor, I can tell you in 30 seconds how to become a doctor. Go to Google and put in how to become a doctor, everything listed for you, bullet point by bullet point, and you’re going to know what you need to do in exactly how long it takes, and maybe even how much it costs. So I want to be very clear, it’s not easy, but it is very simple. It’s very, very simple to understand, whereas for us, if you put into Google how to become a television editor or how to become a studio executive. Well, what the hell does that look like? Right,
Aaron Schmidt: Right.
Zack Arnold: So, what I have found after deconstructing so many people’s journeys and working with so many people in the coaching program, and watching them define their own unique path, when you kind of start to see through the matrix, you realize that most of the paths are very, very similar. It’s just the details on the surface are all very, very different. So, where I want to start with you are some of those superficial details, because I got to say, this question has been driving me crazy. You go on your Facebook page and your work history is Sony Pictures editorial, August 1, 2019 to present, and right before that is Wiggly Tails, Doggy Day. So, let’s talk about that transition.
Aaron Schmidt: Wow, Zack, you really done your research
Zack Arnold: Well. It is your about page on Facebook, so I can’t say that it took me that long to find it.
Aaron Schmidt: True, true. I, that’s actually right. You know, I went to school at Arizona State University, and studied film production, and with an emphasis in post production, and I spent four years, you know, making my student films and collaborating with other students. And whatnot, and coming my junior year of college, I started thinking about what’s next, and I first started emailing people, and just from looking online and cold calling, and whatnot, but my first summer job that wasn’t on Facebook, I got a PA job working on the set of Camping HBO, is camping, and how I got that was I knew a guy who knew a guy who was the first ad on that show, so I called him up and he said, “Sure, you can day play for a day, and it was amazing. So I came out here and moved out here for the summer to kind of see what it was like not knowing anybody, and lived in an Airbnb with no air conditioning and barely any hot water, and I day played on the show Camping, and they liked me enough where they said, “Hey, we are doing some night shoots. Do you want to come back, meet some extra people, do deep lockups in a forest somewhere where no one was going to walk? I think they just really wanted me just away from set, and on those shoots the post producer and the second would come and see the operation and how everything was going and I made some friends on set with some of the other pas and I told them I was interested in getting into post production and they said they pointed over there like oh yeah that’s the post producer and and the second so I went up to them, and I started chatting them up, and, oh, hey, How’s it going? I’d love to end the post, you know, quick conversations of what their advice was. And then I would see them again on set, and I would go up to them again, and I got their emails, and ultimately I kept their emails in my back pocket, and I sat on it, went back to school, and about six months before graduating and making the final move out here, I would email her and say, “Hey, you know, I’m thinking about moving out here, do you have any jobs or know of any projects? and she would say, yeah, you know, move out here, and we’ll talk, and I would keep in constant contact, not constant, but you know, once every three months out email, or hey, still thinking about it, and then finally, once I did it, I said, hey, I’m here, can is there anyone that you know that needs a post PA, and so that’s kind of how that whole thing got got started for me,
Zack Arnold: So then from there, when they said, “Do you know anybody looking for a post PA? that led you right to Cobra Kai.
Aaron Schmidt: No, no, I, I guess I missed that the whole second half of the story, how I got to Cobra Kai. She would send out some feelers for me, she was very, very nice for doing that, and I obviously, you know, show my gratitude. Thank you, thank you so much. Because everywhere else I was looking was really a dead end, you know, I was applying on Entertainment careers.com which I think is a black hole, and once I started to realize it’s I need to get into people’s inboxes for anything to really happen, so she ultimately put my name in a Facebook page, and with all these other associate producers and co-producers, someone and say, “Hey, I know a guy who is a post PA, if you’re looking, he’s available, and I don’t have access to this Facebook group, but that’s just what she told me, and I ultimately I started getting phone calls from all these post producers, and I went on a couple interviews and completely bombed, and then I met our post producer, and we sat down, and after the first couple interviews, I sat, and I started getting the hang of it, like, okay, this is what this is, what it’s like, because I’ve never really went on an interview for a serious show, so once I started getting comfortable in the chair, by the time I got to our co-producer, I felt pretty comfortable, and it kind of just fit our personalities, kind of fit, and I think I was what she was, what she was looking for.
Zack Arnold: Well, I gotta say, I’m impressed. If you went into a cold interview through a cold random connection on Facebook, and you got got Mallory to hire you, that’s impressive, because she’s got some high standards, and I’m not saying that as a bad thing, I’m saying that as a very good thing, but she’s not easy to impress. So, you must have been pretty good in the room, my friend, pretty, pretty, pretty good.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, I mean, for me, going in, I guess it was less about my resume, because I barely had one. So the doggy daycare thing probably isn’t popping off the page, no, no, and I obviously I did some internships, you know, at Adaptive Studios, for, you know, just organizing the closet, and it just wasn’t stimulating enough for me, and that’s not really where I wanted to be, but yeah, it really wasn’t about my resume, that, and the way I thought about it was these people that are going to be hiring me want someone that they can trust and can see that I’m going to be reliable and it’s really about connecting with them just personally and you know I and reassuring them that you are going to be able to get the job done no matter what, and really clicking personality wise is what my goal was going into that interview,
Zack Arnold: And that’s exactly what somebody would be looking for at the stage that you are at going into that room. I think that there are a lot of people that get in their heads that if they’re going to interview for a post-PA job on a high-profile series. Well, I should probably know Avid, or maybe I need a reel, or I need to impress them, you know, with my film skills. Guess what? Nobody gives a crap. Yeah, your job is going to be making sure that everybody is fed, and making sure that this thing gets across town in time, and this and that, and the other thing. They don’t care about your creative filmmaking aspirations, they want to know, do you show up on time, can you follow through with the things that I asked you to do, and do I believe that you’re going to follow through,
Aaron Schmidt: Right? And, and so, with that in mind, I went into that interview reassuring Mallory that listen, I’m not going to blindside you with anything, I will make sure you’re in the loop, and with everything I do, and I’m here to make your life easier, like, so that’s kind of how I pitched myself to Mallory, and I guess she was looking for someone that was gonna do that for,
Zack Arnold: And I, if there were one phrase that I think we’re gonna sell not only Mallory but just about anybody else in that position, it’s my job is to make your life easier. I mean, that just nails it. And when I talk to people about interview preparation, and not just for being a post BA, but for being an editor, or being an assistant, or even for whatever the job might be, people have this impression that they’re supposed to go in the room and they’re supposed to sell themselves and talk about how wonderful I am and why I’m better than all the other candidates. Nope, because that’s what everybody else is doing. What you want to do is walk into the room and demonstrate you have a very clear understanding of all of the challenges of the person that’s interviewing you and why you are the best solution to those challenges, and why you are the person that’s going to make their life easier. So, you’ve learned all these lessons at least two decades too early, my friend.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, I don’t, I don’t know. I think that, you know, my, my dad is a businessman, and I kind of grew up, you know, him preaching, you have to be, you have to be an asset to someone, and with my level of coming in with no resume, basically, you know, my asset, my value is to make your life easier, and that’s really all I can bring right now, so that’s kind of was my, my mindset.
Zack Arnold: Well, I think that was an excellent mindset going in, and I certainly saw that in the work that you’re doing. And we will jump in a little bit later, like we alluded to, and do a little bit of a tear down, and kind of, you know, talk about some areas where, you know, there’s always room for improvement for the sake of your growth and the growth of others. But where I really want to start is a question that so many people ask, and I’m okay at answering it, but to be honest, I can’t answer this question as well as you can, which is, what does a post PA do in television? What do you actually do, because I don’t see that much of what your responsibilities are, other than I get an email from you every morning that’s very well organized, with two links, one to a menu, one to a spreadsheet, where I have to enter my menu item, and I have to put in the cost, and there’s a formula that adds the tax and all this other stuff, but other than that, I can’t really explain in detail what your job duties are. So, for somebody listening that’s saying, “I want to break in, I want to climb the ladder, I’m willing to start at the bottom and pay my dues as a post PA, but I don’t even know what skills I need. What do you do all day long?
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, I coming to this job, I didn’t even know what I was supposed to do, and I, again, I didn’t even see you very much when you were in the office, and I guess one of my goals was to try to, you know, if you don’t see me, that’s a good, that’s a good thing, because I don’t want to, you know, distract you from, from your editing, but I guess I would say the responsibilities of a post PA, obviously, one is, you know, lunches, and the first day I came in, I, they would only let me. At lunches I had no experience doing anything else. I came in, I made name tags for all the doors, and I kind of just sat there and let everyone else do their thing, kind of looking for something to do, and slowly, slowly, as the show came on, more and more responsibility came and obviously they only give you lunch first for a reason. They want to see that you don’t screw it up, because if you don’t screw up for lunch, then they’ll give you something else to do, and and so on and so forth, and more and more responsibility, but the bottom line of the responsibilities of being a PA is lunches, making sure that you know crafty, obviously in the office, but also assisting the coordinator with whatever he needs, and our coordinator, Max, had a lot on his plate for this show, and it was really just us two when our associate producer was dealing with bigger things, but from the day they nitty gritty stuff, it was it was Max, and what he needed help with he would give to me. So every show is going to be different with responsibilities. I showed that I was capable of taking on more responsibilities, so they gave me more responsibility. But there’s no really set defined responsibilities of a post pay, other than making sure lunch is delivered on time and orders are correct. There was one time I didn’t get an order correct, and I went, I had to go back to the restaurant, and I was so annoyed with myself that that even happened, because it’s embarrassing. You want to make sure that you are putting your best foot forward at all times, and making sure Crafty is, you know, fully stocked, and it’s what people like, and it’s a very high stress sometimes environment, sometimes most of the time, most of the time it’s very, very high stress, very detailed work, and people, when they come out for their break, they want to have something that makes them feel good, and what’s so great about being a post PA is that you are providing that thing that is making people relax for that split second of the day, and people will really, really appreciate you for it. You know, a lot of pas can say, ah, it’s getting lunch, and, ah, you know, it’s just crafty, but it’s really something more than that. If you, yes, on the surface, you’re just grabbing lunch, you’re just getting snacks, but if you really look at what you’re doing and helping the team with just those two basic things, it’s really something remarkable that your position, my position at the time, is so invaluable that it’s truly needed. So those are the basic responsibilities, and obviously I craved more responsibility because getting lunch and crafty just isn’t enough for me. So I started saying, oh, I can do that, oh I can do this, and I ended up, you know, by the end I was helping approve graphic shots and send out invoices, and so much more, you know, stuff that needs to get done that our coordinator should not have to deal with, because at that time, at the middle to the end of the show, there’s so much going on that there those things are just not, they get, they get swiped under the rug often, and when you have a post PA that has proven themselves through most of the season and is eager to take on more responsibility, they’ll give you more responsibility, they have no problem with that, because everyone needs help, there’s so much to do.
Zack Arnold: Yeah, there’s, there’s always, always more work to go around than there are people. There’s no question about that. So, yeah, I think it’s very important to recognize that there’s always going to be some other responsibility that you can take on. And I think that you, you took a very smart approach, which I definitely noticed very early on, which is why we’ve ended up on this call, the, you know, maybe somewhat secretly, and I made my intentions a little bit more known near the end of the season, but pretty early on, I could tell that you, you kind of had your, your head on your shoulders, and you knew what you were doing, so I was just kind of, kind of watching how you conducted yourself and did your work, and whatnot, and I could tell that for you it wasn’t just about got to do the lunches and got to do this, and yeah, some of that stuff sucks on a day-to-day basis, especially when you’re doing it in Los Angeles, and you have to go drive and pick stuff up and park, and it’s a big giant pain in the ass, but if we’re looking at the path, if we’re talking about this idea that everyone’s path is different, sure, the details on the surface are all different. But one of the foundational pieces of everybody’s path is that you have to be awesome at your job first, and that’s what you were doing, and I see so many people like you, for you, and this is one of the things that I kind of skirted over that I shouldn’t have, I should have made sure to mention at the beginning of the interview, but for anybody that hasn’t quite put together the timeline, you went right from coming out of school to in less than a year working on Cobra Kai, correct?
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, I was in Los Angeles for two months.
Zack Arnold: Yeah, so everybody listening right now hates you. I just want to make sure you know that, okay? Because that doesn’t happen. Most of the people that I know that are post PAs have spent years doing something else, and by their mid to late 20s, or even their early 30s, I have people in my coaching program that, in their early 30s, decided they wanted to go a different direction, and they’re doing your job now, and it’s really hard to get in, so you just made a lot of people very unhappy that are like, wait a second, you’re on Cobra Kai right out of college, so, and I’m, of course, joking, like, you should be very, very proud of that, but I also think you don’t understand or realize how unusual that is.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, I definitely agree. I guess I don’t really know, you know, how unusual that is, just because of my situation, and a lot of the time now you, you get in the right place at the right time in front of the right people at the right time, and doesn’t mean that whoever’s listening, you don’t have to go right away right to a studio life on a high-profile show. I mean, there are so many, I know studio life, but I don’t really know the independent life, which is a whole nother world that I do someday want to know about, so the people that are postpaying on independent shows, that’s that’s not something to be disappointed about, or to be sad, like, oh, I, I’m not good, or like that is a whole nother different experience that you know that I have no idea about, and I know a lot of people that don’t want to be in studio life. I happen to really enjoy studio life, and but if you are working on, you know, smaller projects, as opposed to PA or PA, you know there’s something to be said that you know on independent stuff you don’t have the bureaucracy and there’s a there is a lot more freedom and so it’s a different experience and you shouldn’t minimize your position even if you’re working on independent stuff, because that’s an area that I don’t know about, that that you guys do, so it’s all good. I would just, as long as you’re working, that’s all that matters.
Zack Arnold: Well, I do very much appreciate you saying that and pointing that out, and I’m sure that many of the people that are working in the indie world, trying to get into the studio world, are all screaming at their phones and at their speaker, saying, “For the love of God, stay in studio, don’t come to the indie world. I could be wrong, but I’ve seen both very much firsthand, and have lived both of them, and they certainly have their benefits and their drawbacks. But by and large, from a lifestyle perspective, it’s a lot easier to balance longer term in the studio world, just because there’s a lot more protection.
Aaron Schmidt: I agree, you know, I don’t plan on leaving the studio world anytime soon. Yeah, you know, I was, I was in the right place at the right time, and I met, you know, someone that was happened to be a post producer for HBO, and you know those people, studio people know other studio people. It’s a small community, so I got, I got lucky in
Zack Arnold: Ohh, you said the the L word. I, you were doing so well, you were doing so well.
Aaron Schmidt: I hate you, I hate the L word. I
Zack Arnold: You have not listened to my show enough to know that that is just the buzzword that I just stop everybody at. I’ve heard enough of your story now to know that that’s complete bs. The reason being, and I say that for, you know, with all the love in the world, but it’s total bs, because you said, oh well, I just happen to be in the right place at the right time, but you didn’t. You put yourself in the right place at the right time. You’ve already talked about how, yeah, I knew a guy that knew a guy that knew the second ad, but my guess is that it wasn’t you knew a guy that knew a guy, it was that you got to know a guy that got to know a guy that knew the second ad. Am I correct?
Aaron Schmidt: Yes, yes.
Zack Arnold: And then from there you told me that while you were in the middle of the forest, in the middle of the night, when you could have been on your phone playing some stupid ass game, you were talking to people, you were asking them, How do I become a post PA, or how do I get into post? Who do I need to talk to? I got their emails, I put their emails in my pocket, and I sat on them, which, by the way, you said, which I thought was hilarious. You put the emails in your pocket, then you sat on the emails, literally and figuratively, but then you stayed. Contact with people, so you weren’t lucky. You made almost all of this happen, so that’s that’s the path that everybody takes when they take control of the path, which you’ve done. So, I, I forbid you for to say that you are lucky from this point forwards, because I don’t think you are.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, I guess luck wasn’t the right term. I was, I was persistent, and I will. The first thing I knew exactly what I wanted, and I think for a lot of people my age that are in film, they don’t necessarily know what they want to do, so knowing exactly where you want to be at that, at this whatever point in your life you’re in is something that is good to know, because once you know where you want to be, it’s easier to kind of narrow that path to, okay, this is what I’m going to sell myself as, and this is what I’m going to ask people, hey, do you need a post PA. I knew that I wasn’t getting an assistant editor job, I wasn’t going to get a co-producer job, you know. There, people worked their entire lives to be that, and so coming in, I was, I had very realistic expectations, and I just needed something. So, yeah, I, I definitely emailed a lot, but I wasn’t very.. I wasn’t, you know, hey, I need a job, I need a job. It was, hey, you know, just trying to stay in your mind, and you know, don’t forget about me, you know, I’m still here, I’m still thinking about this, and just so they can prepare themselves, and for when I do come out, and when I did, you know, she already knew my plan from months and months ago, so keeping in contact was an extremely important part of the path to getting Cobra Kai, but I didn’t do it in a way that was annoying until I actually got here, and then I was starting to get interviews, and I would keep her updated on, hey, having an interview today, you know. Thanks so much for, you know, the Facebook post again. I really appreciate it. But once she put that Facebook post on Facebook, the rest was up to me, she, it was, it was just an access point to the people, but I would, you know, I would keep in contact with her, I’d keep her updated on what’s happening, you know, because she is the one that put my name in, so I thought she deserves to know, like, what the job I got, and you know, if I didn’t get an interview, or if I didn’t get the job, like I thought it was important for her to know all that, and it was really just building this relationship through email, it was very.. and ultimately it ended up working out.
Zack Arnold: I love everything you just said. Oh, for the love of God, I love all of it. That was that you hit the nail on the head in so many different ways. The first thing that I want to extract, which I think is so important for people to hear, is that specificity is the key. Imagine where you would be right now if at every stage of this process, where you met somebody, whether it was the guy that knew a guy that knew a guy, or you were the post PA on set in the middle of the night, or you were talking to these people that reached out via Facebook, and they connected with you, and your response was, ‘Oh, I’ll do anything, I don’t care, I just want.. I’ll do anything in Hollywood. Guess what? Nobody’s going to respond because they don’t know where to put you. So, the one of the things that I say over and over and over in my workshops and my coaching program, and whenever I’m talking to anybody that reaches out, everybody says, well, I don’t really think that people in this business don’t want to help you, and I just completely disagree with that. My belief is that the vast majority of people want to help you. The problem is that they don’t know how, because you haven’t made it clear, and you are the perfect example that if you make it crystal clear how you can help me now, not how can you make my entire career for me, and can you hand it on a silver platter? Because I don’t want to do the work. You said this is what I want next. Do you know anybody, or do you have any advice for this one little small step that I’m making? Most likely, if you’re talking to the right person, they’re going to help you, because you’ve made it clear how they can help you. So, I think that’s another one of the reasons that you weren’t really lucky, you were being very clear about what you were looking for at that specific point, and how that person could help.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, and you know, and I understand people are extremely busy, you know, these producers, they have so much going on, and people are willing to help, but you also have to understand, like, they’re busy, so it’s there’s a fine line between asking for help, because you can be very, very specific and they still might not, they still might not help you, you know. So it’s how do you get someone to help you and. I still don’t. It’s all about building a relationship, you know. If someone likes you and you genuinely want to get to know someone and what they do and show interest, like they will. That’s how you get someone to help you, is truly wanting to know what they do, because that’s what you want to do someday, and they’ll see that you have the drive and you’re interested, and most of the time people help you, but there are going to be some people that are just busy and you get, you know, far in their inbox, and how do you, how do you handle that? I don’t even know.
Zack Arnold: Well, there’s, there’s certainly a lot of ways to go about it. We could, we could dive super, super deep down the rabbit hole, but what I can already tell is that somehow I’m gonna have to put some new security on my computer, but I’m pretty sure that you’re hacking into all of my private coaching calls, because you’re basically just parroting all the things that I tell people when they say I don’t know how to network and build relationships, so I’m quite astounded at this point the level of knowledge that you have about networking, like, right out of college, it’s, it’s kind of, kind of crazy. So, well,
Aaron Schmidt: The thing is, is like, I grew up, you know, I’m dyslexic, so you know, reading and writing was extremely hard for me, and, you know, still is. I make typos all the time, and when that’s in being on Cobra Kai as a post PA, I quickly realized that I have to reread every single email five to six times, so something doesn’t go out to confuse someone, and I grew up in, you know, they put me in these special ed classes, and I had to convince people growing up that you know I don’t need to be in special ed, I can, I can be in these normal classes, because I didn’t like being in special ed, you know, it came with a horrible connotation, which it shouldn’t, but you know, people, people thought of special ed, so I think, you know, selling myself to teachers at a young age kind of helped, you know, practice my skills, and ultimately they let me out of special ed, because I was able to convince them that I don’t need to be in special ed, even though maybe I did.
Zack Arnold: Well, based on your, your performance, and where you’ve gotten at this point in your life, I would say that special ed probably wasn’t the best place for you, and I’m actually really, really glad that you brought this up, because I was going to go here eventually, and you brought it up at the perfect time. I’m going to be 100% honest with you. So, when it comes to dyslexia, I’m not an expert in it, however, I have spent my entire life surrounded by people with learning disabilities, because my father is a dyslexia expert. He has spent decades of his life as a reading and dyslexia expert, and not only in one form of dyslexia, but there are very, very few people that actually know how to treat people that have both types of dyslexia. So I grew up at the dinner table hearing about dyslexia my whole life. I’ve heard multiple tutoring sessions, like I know all the signs of dyslexia. I wouldn’t be able to say that I could teach somebody with it, but I can basically spot it a mile away. I had no idea you were dyslexic until I saw it in your bio that you sent me for this interview. I had no idea
Aaron Schmidt: I went to after I went to my Montessori school, which taught resourcefulness and independence and whatnot. At a young age, I went to a school specifically for dyslexic kids, where they taught me reading from the ground up. So I’m very thankful to Hyde Park Day School in Chicago, which is where I’m from, for teaching me how to read and getting me at a point where I could go into public school and whatnot, and I know they’re extremely, extremely proud to see me in this position, but I still, I still suffer from it every day, you know, but doesn’t mean that you can’t be good at your job,
Zack Arnold: And I think that, that as much as I wouldn’t wish it upon anybody, I can now see that that adversity has served you extremely well, and a lot of what you’re telling about your story makes a lot more sense to me, having gone through this, and the funny thing is that I had no idea there were any signs of dyslexia while you were on the job, and we worked together on and off every single day for five months straight. However, when I read the bio that you wrote to use to publish this interview, I saw it immediately,
Aaron Schmidt: Really,
Zack Arnold: Or before you used, because I mean it’s well, duh, because you talk about it in the bio, but I started to see it, and I’m like, oh, that’s interesting. And then I read about it in the Bible, like, huh, I never noticed that before. So, you’ve definitely, you’ve made a very good faith effort and put in the whatever level of work was necessary to do the job at the highest level, with nobody saying, yeah, well, he’s doing. Good, you know, for a guy with a reading disability, right? There’s there was none of that, but you also didn’t use it as an excuse, and I think it’d be really easy to, and I’ve seen a lot of people that have said, oh yeah, sorry about all the mistakes, but you know, I’ve got dyslexia. Well, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a way that you can make an effort, and it looks like you have certainly made that effort.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, and there were times, you know, where our coordinator Max said, “Oh, like you spelled this wrong, or, like, “Wait, wait, let me re-read this, because you know I know you make some spelling errors, so you know he also got my back a lot when it came to it, but I don’t.. it’s not an excuse, and if someone would call me out on it, I’d be like, “Oh, man, sorry, you’re right. And it happened a lot more at the beginning, but as the show went on, and I started getting hanging the job, I quickly realized that, you know, rereading everything, and even when it comes to editors and producers, you know, they still make spelling errors, but I noticed that they’re rereading their emails 10 times before they send it out, so I think that’s a huge part of, you know, being in a post PA is that you want to be as detailed oriented as possible, and rereading emails, so things are spelled correctly, and grammar is correct for the best of your ability, so you know people, people will take you seriously, because if you get constant emails with spelling errors and grammar mistakes, people are gonna start thinking, oh, this guy, no, this guy doesn’t know what he’s doing, and that’s the last thing that was my biggest fear coming into the job is people thinking I didn’t know what I was doing,
Zack Arnold: And I think that the what you pointed out here is really, really important, which is it’s not like all the showrunners and producers and directors have perfect emails with no typos, they’re actually kind of a mess, and it looks like they did it with giant hot dog thumbs, right? Yeah, but guess what, they’re directors and producers, and who cares. So they don’t really care if they have a typo, or you know, a couple of misspelled words, or they use the wrong punctuation, because that’s not important to their job, right? Nobody is hiring them because of their email etiquette, they’re hiring because of their ability to have a vision. But you, as a PA, you do have to communicate very, very clearly, and because you’re at an entry-level position, people are very much, whether it’s right or not, going to judge you on whether or not you spell words wrong, whether or not you are communicating clearly in an email, whether it feels rushed. So, those things are very, very important for somebody at an entry level, because that’s what gives the first impression.
Aaron Schmidt: I mean, take this for example, and I still to this day get teased about this, and you were the first one to respond to this email. It was my first day on Cobra Kai, and I sent out an email introducing myself, and I said, Hello, everyone, I’m Aaron. You know, I’m gonna be your post PA on Cobra Chai.
Zack Arnold: It’s funny because I’m actually looking at that email right now,
Aaron Schmidt: And you know, and you responded saying, “Oh, you were very, very kind and gracious about it, and I appreciate that. But even still to this day, I get so much crap for that, and I think it’s hilarious now, now that I know everyone, and you know we’re all tight after we just went basically through war together to, you know, get this show finished with so much to do, and and whatnot, and but it’s funny, and but at the time it was I was freaking out, this is the first email I’m sending to the entire crew of Cobra Kai, and I misspell the name of the show.
Zack Arnold: Yeah, and I, even though I didn’t know you yet, I hadn’t met you in person, but I’ve certainly worked with enough PAs, and it’s usually somebody that’s younger and entry level. As soon as I read that, I’m like, first of all, I laughed, and then I’m like, I bet he’s totally freaking out right now that he did this. Like,
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah,
Zack Arnold: She’s sweating, he’s illusion. Oh my god, what have I done on my first day?
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah,
Zack Arnold: I was actually going through because I wanted to find that first email specifically, because I was going to bring it up, but you beat me to it. But yeah, my response was, hey, Aaron, first of all, I think you should trademark Cobra Chai, because it could end up being the Starbucks flavor of 2019
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah,
Zack Arnold: Right. So, the idea there is just, chill out, dude, it’s a long season, you made one good mistake, nobody really cares, right? But I can just imagine the way that you felt when you sent that email, like, yeah, I just sent my first email. I introduced myself. I’m asking for snacks. Oh my god, what have I done?
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah,
Zack Arnold: Right.
Aaron Schmidt: That was exactly it. The panic, and at that time it was the biggest deal in the world. And again, going back to my point, is that I want to look like I know what I’m doing, and immediately I look like I have no. Ideal, what I’m doing, which is kind of ironic.
Zack Arnold: Yeah, I thought that that was pretty funny. The area that I want to go next, and I want to, I promise you, this will be as painless as possible, because I honestly have very little to say. But this would be the tear down portion of the evening, and I’m going to be honest, I don’t have a whole lot, but I do have one area that I think would be really useful to dig into and kind of think about the deeper psychology that I think will be useful both for you, but also for anybody listening to understand the difference between just showing up and doing your job, or showing up and being a black belt PA, as you and I ended up calling it by the end of the season.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah,
Zack Arnold: Right, because you, you are always coming to me saying, “Hey, how could I have done this better? How could I do that? I’m like, “Oh, looks like somebody’s trying to earn their black belt in PA, right?
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, that’s right.
Zack Arnold: So, the number one criticism that I have, and this literally is the worst criticism that I have, when you knock on the door, you got to wait longer before somebody answers. That’s it,
Aaron Schmidt: Really.
Zack Arnold: That’s the biggest thing, is that I think, because you’re so driven and so focused to get in and get out, you knock, and you just walk in the door and hand in the call sheet, or ask for the lunch order, or whatever it is, without waiting for that moment of somebody saying, “Yeah, come on in. That’s the biggest thing I got. I’ve got another area that I want to dive into, but that really was the biggest thing the whole season.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, I can. I can see that. I had another complaint from one of our assistant editors, and I would, I would knock very lightly because I was, I was scared of interrupting them, even though I’m literally about to barge into their room and interrupt.
Zack Arnold: Part of the problem is that the doors were like four inches thick, and you couldn’t hear anybody knocking,
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah,
Zack Arnold: You had to basically pound to hear it from the other side,
Aaron Schmidt: And I would walk in, and he was like, dude, you got a knock, man, and I was like, I, I did, he’s like, you got, well, I didn’t hear it harder, you got a pound, yeah, and I can, and the thing is, is that that’s that’s a absolute, that’s a great note, and you know, you’re not the first one to tell me that, and I guess for me it was, it was just more like I’m constantly in a rush to get things done, not a rush, but I’m moving quickly, because I know people want things done fast and correctly, so for me you’re absolutely right. It’s to get anything to get out and to leave you alone as quickly as I possibly can. But yeah, definitely knocking and waiting for someone to say come in. It can, if you don’t do that, it can be very irritating to the editors, and I definitely see that, and that’s definitely something on the next show I have incorporated,
Zack Arnold: Yep, and the bigger lesson, other than just, oh yeah, I need to wait longer, the bigger lesson that I want other people listening to understand, and you’ve already alluded to this, your job is to make everybody else’s lives on the show easier, whether that’s just making the lunch magically appear in front of them, or if somebody needs something in their office that just shows up, right, like you’re kind of, you’re the, you’re the cleaner behind the scenes that’s taking care of everything, doing all the dirty work, so all we have to do is walk in our room, be creative, do our job, and go home, right? So, if my entire reason for being is to have ideas, generate those ideas and put them in the timeline, there’s nothing more detrimental to that creative focus or that creative flow than having a constant interruption. So, if you’re thinking about your job is to serve all the people around you, what you want to do is put yourself in their head space and think, all right, if they’re in front of the timeline and they’re solving a really complex creative problem, and then not only is somebody knocking, but they’re coming right in before that person’s brain is reset, and allowed them to say, “Hey, come on in, imagine what that’s doing to their headspace.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, and I totally, totally see that, and you’re absolutely right. You know, I think the bigger, and I guess on the bigger picture, if we’re talking about what I need to improve on, I would say, then you know it’s putting yourself in the head space of the assistant editor and of the editor, which I didn’t do much. I was so focused on my task that you can really get caught up in all the work you had to do, especially, you know, towards the middle and the end of the show, when you know I’m, you know, approving graphics, and you know, sending graphics notes, and you know, dealing with logs, and there’s so much to do that at one point, you know, it was more just I have so much, I kind of lost track of, I still have to be invisible and still have to be in the head space of the editor and the assistant editors, which I did lose track of, just because I got so busy that I definitely didn’t have the perspective of them through most of the show, just because I was so worried about what. Had to get done
Zack Arnold: Exactly, and that was actually the, it’s the similar conversation with a similar lesson, but I wanted to show it in a different form, so the the other area that I wanted to dive into was the the lunch orders, and this seems like such a small thing, but it can be a really, really big thing, that again is the difference between, yeah, I know, I guess that PA was fine versus, oh my god, we have to have this PA on all of our shows going.
Aaron Schmidt: Oh, I know what you’re gonna say.
Zack Arnold: What am I gonna say?
Aaron Schmidt: You’re because I think you gave this note to me once before in person, and I remember you’re about to say if you’re ordering from a place and already know their order already put like put it on the sheet, and if they want something else, they’ll change it. Is that what you’re about to say?
Zack Arnold: It’s not. It’s similar to that. I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t say automatically make the assumption. One of the kind of the black belt tips that I gave you was that if you get to know somebody’s favorite order at specific places, if they’re really busy, then you can offer to them, “Hey, if you’re busy, do you just want me to get what you usually get
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, that was it
Zack Arnold: Place in order, right? So it wasn’t automatically make the assumption, but you’re on the right track. But what I really wanted to get into, and you and I have not talked about this yet, and I’ve kind of been waiting for this conversation to talk about this. I feel like you evolved with this process yourself over the course of the season, but at the very beginning of the season, it was very clear to me that you wanted to be organized, and you wanted to be as efficient as possible with getting these lunch orders, you had a spreadsheet, you had the formula calculating tax, like you had all these details put together. Most people don’t go to that length. I was impressed by that, but the perspective that you were taking in the mindset shift that I saw you make was when you started, it was all about how can I make this process as simple for me, right.
Aaron Schmidt: Absolutely,
Zack Arnold: The thing that tipped me off, and again, it’s such a small thing, but it’s such a big thing too, that makes this difference is that you are asking everybody else to put the prices into the spreadsheet,
Aaron Schmidt: That’s correct.
Zack Arnold: Did you notice over the course of the season that everybody just stopped doing that?
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah,
Zack Arnold: And why do you think they did that?
Aaron Schmidt: Because no one wants to, no one wants to look at the price, you know, they’re already interrupting, you know, putting their lunch order, you know, even though it’s lunch, people still don’t like doing it, you know.
Zack Arnold: Yes, in the.. my response to it is, ain’t nobody got time for that.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, absolutely. If I could read your mind and know what you wanted for lunch, I wouldn’t be asking the question exactly.
Zack Arnold: So, again, crawling into the brain of the people that you’re working with in your department, the last thing that I want to do when I’m in a state of flow is look at a lunch menu and figure out my order. However, the right food better show up at exactly the right time when I’m hungry, right? Like, it’s the.. it’s a really difficult battle for you to have to balance both of these. You have to make me happy at 1230 with the right food, but for the love of God, would you just put your order in so I can order you something, right? Like every single day, it’s like, hey guys, getting ready to do the order, need you guys to fill it out, like you were really, really polite about that, and you weren’t pushy, but I can imagine in your mind, and I actually, there were a couple of days when I watched you, it was like a video game, you’re like, oh, they’re entering the spreadsheet, okay, got another one, yes, okay, one more person, fill it out, oh, they’re in the Google sheet, they’re in the field, they’re, oh, yes, I got the order right,
Aaron Schmidt: That’s right, yeah,
Zack Arnold: That was like your big thing for the day, but the in your mind,
Aaron Schmidt: At first, yeah,
Zack Arnold: At first, right? I mean, obviously, you know, you got used to that process, but that was your job, that’s what you woke up to do during the day, was fill out that spreadsheet, get people food, and then I was like, well, so it did a thing, did that, I guess, then I’ll do it again tomorrow, right, but the key was that at the beginning of the season, you were making everybody else do the work, because in your mind that was the most efficient way for you to be doing your job, but then, as you evolved, I think you realized, wait a second, this process should be hard for me and easy for everybody else, right?
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, I mean, I just don’t want it easy for myself, just because, you know I do have other things to do, yeah. I mean, I did make that spreadsheet as easy as possible. I tried to make it easy as possible for you and for me, and I guess putting in the prices, I can see how it was annoying, and I should have been the one putting in those prices and making sure no one goes over, given if someone does go over, what am I gonna do? You know, like, I, it happens sometimes, but yes, I could see how in the mindset of an editor and an assistant editor, for them to, even though it’s so small, you’re absolutely right to put in that just two digit number, it still takes time, and especially with people that you know, editors and assistant editors, they, you know, it’s a hyper detailed, hyper focused craft, and they want to get back to it. As quickly as they possibly can, because they’re excited, or because they need to get these things out and done and finished. So those extra couple seconds of, you know, put in number, you’re absolutely right, it’s annoying, and it’s like, ah, like really, like, what? How much does this cost? You know, I totally see it, and, and I’m still doing that now, as we speak, you know. Even what I’ve noticed is that when you even are an assistant to a producer at a higher level than a PA, you are still going to be grabbing lunches and coffee. So right now I have a – I still have a spreadsheet that people fill out, and I still have them put in the prices, but maybe I’ll, maybe I’ll have the not do that anymore, because it’s, it’s not sustainable for people.
Zack Arnold: Well, here, here’s the difference between the brown belt and the black belt, and this I can tell you for a fact, because I know this can be the difference between, yeah, he’s all right versus we have to take this PA everywhere we go, and this, it’s a really, really small thing, but I all but guarantee that you’re going to notice a difference when you make this change. You can either say in the daily email, please make sure to fill out the prices, or you could say instead, don’t worry about filling out the prices, I’ll take care of it for all of you. That small shift can be the difference between getting hired or not getting hired on your next show.
Aaron Schmidt: Very true. Yeah, and tomorrow when I, you know, look over the lunch order, I will make sure that with that email that will be out of there. That’s a great note. I didn’t even think of that. That didn’t cross my radar at all,
Zack Arnold: And it wouldn’t, because it’s something that you haven’t been able to see from the perspective of the other people, but I can all but guarantee that once people see, oh, wow, like, he’s, he’s really taking initiative, and he’s made my life easier, which, as you said in the interview, I’m here to make your life easier, every single instance where you can see from the other person’s perspective, what am I asking of them, and what does it look like from looking at it through their eyes? How can I make this easier for them, even if it makes it harder for me? I’ve now added another five minutes of crap that you have to do every day, but that five minutes of entering the prices yourself can make such a huge impression on all of the people around you that instead of it being just one person, whether it be Mallory or whomever the producer is, you now have every single person on that team. When somebody reaches out to them and says, ‘Hey, do you know a post PA dude? The guy on Cobra Kai was awesome. You got to get him right.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah,
Zack Arnold: That’s how you expand your network by all those little tiny details that you never even think about,
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah. No, that’s that is, you are absolutely right. That was, that’s a great note. Then, and definitely puts me now in a mindset that it’s a little different now, coming into work tomorrow, now knowing that you know it’s such a small detail, but it definitely, I can see how that’s going to make a big difference.
Zack Arnold: Well, I’m very curious to see how that evolves over time. So, I definitely want you to reach out and let me know whether it’s you see a difference in a day or in a week or in a month, but I think just that one little tiny mindset shift in your approach to all the little details, I think you’re actually going to see it making a difference, not as opposed to, like, God, I hope it’s working. I think you’re going to be like, this stuff actually works.
Aaron Schmidt: No, absolutely. And you know, lunches is such a, it’s such a tricky thing. You know, I have a lot of people that aren’t, that are friends, and that aren’t in the industry, and they, they think it’s crazy, because no other.. I don’t like, I can say no other profession, but most other professions are not getting lunch catered to them, right? So when I talk about stories of, oh yeah, I messed up on this lunch, they’re like Aaron, like that is that’s crazy, and it really like it’s when you’re not in the industry and you’re looking from the outside in, you know, yeah. When you tell these stories, oh, I had to go back because there wasn’t, you know, peppers on the sandwich, you know, but at the same time this industry is so much based on trust and the trust of the ability that you’re gonna be able to do your job correctly, so because a mistake in post and I’ve made mistakes, I made several mistakes, and some smaller and some bigger than others, but I see because there’s such a big pipeline and so many people involved in everything that a mistake at a higher level can throw the whole pipeline off for a day or two and cost money that at this. Stage, yes, it’s low stakes, and it might not seem like a big deal that someone’s lunch was wrong, but the scheme things, it’s showing people that you can see the details and get things right.
Zack Arnold: Well, if it makes you feel any better, I made mistakes this season that cost us a lot more money than you heard, because we’re all human, right?
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, absolutely.
Zack Arnold: And at the end of the day, we create entertainment for a living. We’re not curing cancer, so everybody needs to just get over themselves. There, I said, so last question for you. And then I want to be respectful of your time, because I know that you have another.
Aaron Schmidt: No, this is great. This is great,
Zack Arnold: But I know that this is probably a question that you’ve already answered multiple times, maybe even on the show, but I’m sure that with all the speaking that you’ve done, going back to your schools and whatnot, or talking to other people, and I’m sure you’re going to be answering this question more in the future, once this episode gets out there, but if I’m somebody that’s on the outside looking in, and I want one really sage great piece of advice for my next steps to break in and make a good impression and get my first entry level job in Hollywood. What would you say?
Aaron Schmidt: I would say leave your ego at the gates of the lot, or anywhere you are. When you are an entry level position, you, when you step into that office, you are there to serve the producer and the entire team, and when you, and obviously you know, coming out of college, you know, I’m a great filmmaker, and you might be, and you might have some great short films, but when you step on the lot, no one cares, as you said before. So, being willing and setting your ego aside, and you know, just saying yes, I am gonna get lunches, I am gonna get coffee, but having a mindset of this job is important, and you know, even if it’s coffee, I’m caffeinating the producer, like I’m helping her, you know, keep going and going, so she can get more work done. That is the mindset you need to have in any entry-level job you’re going to have, is leave the ego at the door, do the job, get to know the people, be friendly, truly genuinely want to get to know everyone, because there are so many cool people. I’m going to use the word lucky in this case. I don’t know if you’re gonna agree with this, but I got lucky that you know Cobra Kai’s crew, post production crew, all the other – we’re all really awesome people. There’s not one person in the office, I do not like, and everyone is very, very appreciative of everything I did, and they gave me more responsibility, maybe sometimes more than I wanted, but you have to bring the attitude of, okay, I’m here to learn, and I’m here to serve the people of Cobra Kai, and once you accept that, and once you start doing that, you will get other jobs. You know, I from Cobra Kai, the executive producer, the showrunners. One day I’m just doing my own thing, and their assistant comes up to me and says, Aaron, I need to talk to you, and I’m like, oh my god, like, what I do is the lunch border wrong, like, what’s happening? She said, we would like to bring you over to our new show, and I said, really, they want me, and they did, because I was, I was there, I did my job, and I put my head down, and I was just there to learn, and I wanted to be a ghost most of the time, and have things up here, you know, you don’t want to tell them the magic of what goes behind it, so leaving your ego at the door is a huge once you get over that, it’s a huge barrier to get over, and once you do get over that barrier, I think you’ll have a lot easier time getting the next job, because no one wants to work with someone who has a has a huge ego when really you haven’t done anything, and even if you have done something, you still should be humble, and I’ve learned that, you know, over the course of my college career. But yeah, I would say that would be my one piece of advice.
Zack Arnold: I would say that all of that is absolutely brilliant, with one caveat. I would say that leave your ego at the door is not just good advice for people in an entry-level position, it is good advice for everybody. Nobody is above getting coffee and food for other people ever.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah,
Zack Arnold: I don’t care if you’re the CEO of the company, you are not above getting coffee and serving others for your team. But I think everything you said is absolutely fantastic advice.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, I mean one of our. Our AES, you know, he, there was a.. it was a rough day in the office, and he brought in treats for everyone, and Mallory would be like, ‘Hey, do you.. do you want something at the coffee bean? You know, so you’re right, no one is above getting coffee for someone else, but I wish everyone the best of luck, and if this is this job is attainable, it’s not this, you know, these gates around this, this lot are your you, if you are able to come on, you know, when I graduated college, I didn’t think I would drive past me like, oh my god, like I’m like one day I hope, and next thing you know, I’m sitting here right now, so it’s attainable. It’s just that you gotta know what you want and try to try to go after it. Everyone listening, you can do it. It’s, it’s not, you’re not becoming a doctor for as a medical school, but you know, you just have to build relationships, genuine relationships, and not just want to use people to, you know, get about, which is a lot of happening in this town. So, when you meet someone who truly wants to get to know someone else and learn, and, and you connect, and whatnot, it’s refreshing. It really is.
Zack Arnold: Well, Aaron, I must say, I had high expectations for our interview this evening, and you have shattered my expectations, Zack. I am, I’m so happy with all the advice you brought, the stories that you shared, your honesty, your authenticity. I really think that you, you knocked this out of the park, and I really hope that everybody listening has new insights into either how they can take the next steps to break in, or if they’re in a similar position as you, how they can become better at serving others, so they can move up the career ladder. So, that having been said, it has been an absolute pleasure having you on the show this evening. If anybody listening wants to reach out and build a genuine relationship with you, how can they?
Aaron Schmidt: Can reach me on my Instagram handle @holyschmidt99 Shoot me a message. I’m more than welcome to answer any questions. I’m not in a position to hire, but if you have questions and need some advice, I’m more than happy to help. I want no.. I’m still new out here, so I’m looking to make friends, and you know, network with you, because one day, you, who knows, you might be able to help me, and I might be able to help you, so it’s all good, and reach out, and I’m happy to help.
Zack Arnold: As far as I’m concerned, the day is going to come when you’re probably my boss, so if I treat you like an asshole, now bite me in the ass in 10 years, anyway.
Aaron Schmidt: It’s, it’s been awesome working with you on Cobra Kai, Zack. It really, it really has. I didn’t know what to expect, but I did truly like going in to your office, and there was some times where I just wander in and be like, “Hey, what’s up?
Zack Arnold: Or something, right?
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, you’re working out in the office
Zack Arnold: What the hell are you doing now,
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, hearing all the banging on the wall,
Zack Arnold: Yeah, right. Oh, okay, he’s just doing his head stands, whatever,
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah,
Zack Arnold: Right, yeah. So, me and my eccentricities, well, yeah, so I very much appreciate you taking the time this evening, and this has been an absolute pleasure. So, thank you so much for sharing with my audience.
Aaron Schmidt: Yeah, no problem. Thanks for having me.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
This episode was edited by Curtis Fritsch, and the show notes were prepared and published by Glen McNiel. Special thanks to Krystle Penhall and Sarah Furie for helping to spread the love!
The original music in the opening and closing of the show is courtesy of Joe Trapanese (who is quite possibly one of the most talented composers on the face of the planet).
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